Did you know that Ontario has 8 native turtle species? Unfortunately all are now listed as species-at-risk. Although turtles have been around since the age of the dinosaurs, they now face an uncertain future. A world without turtles is very sad to think about, but have you considered the impacts their loss may have on the environment? Turtles play an important role in our ecosystem. As omnivores, they eat invertebrates, fish, and plants, and help to keep our aquatic environments in balance. Eggs and young turtles are often a food source for other species, so turtles are one part of a massive food web. Many turtles are also scavengers that remove decaying fish from wetlands, which helps maintain water quality!

What could harm turtles with thick skin and hard shells? We are often asked what the threats turtles face are, and how they are at risk. In this post we will discuss some of the main threats our local turtles face.

Turtles need wetlands, but Southern Ontario has lost over 70% of its original wetland cover. Sadly, some parts of Ontario have lost over 90% of these original habitats. The decline of turtle populations and the loss of wetlands have gone hand in hand. Remaining wetlands are often fragmented and far apart, causing turtles to travel long distances and face additional threats. All turtles lay their eggs on land, but the hatchlings move toward the water immediately after leaving the nest. Some turtles rarely leave their wetland except to lay a nest. Within a wetland, some areas may be important for basking, while other areas are important for feeding or hibernation. Wetlands are teeming with life, which makes them incredible places to go for a nature walk. With so few wetlands left in Southern Ontario, habitats such as the Morrison Dam reservoir are important places for us to protect and value. Although we can’t take you on our usual hike around the reservoir during the turtle release, this trail is open for self-guided nature exploration. Some fun places to explore include Morrison Dam Conservation Area (Exeter), and Hullett Provincial Wildlife Area (East of Clinton).

If you already have great turtle habitat on your property, the best thing to do is preserve it for the future. When we release the turtle hatchlings at our reservoir, we know that they have a great habitat in which to thrive. If you are looking to improve turtle habitat on your property, keep in mind that turtles love:

Turtles in Ontario typically nest from late May to early July. The eggs excavated from Morrison Dam Conservation Area, east of Exeter, were collected in June with the help of staff and volunteers. Thank you to everyone who reported a nest! We could not do what we do without you. While some eggs were collected for incubation and later release, others were protected where laid. Predators such as raccoons are abundant so nest success in some locations is nearly zero per cent. Incubation of eggs and the release of the hatchlings can help get turtles over those first few hurdles. After the eggs are laid, female turtles head back to the water as their job is done. Over the course of the next few months the eggs slowly develop underground or in the incubator. We candle the eggs sometimes to check on the developing embryo, just as you would a chicken egg! What is egg candling? Candling is a way to observe development and growth, inside an egg, of an embryo. Candling uses a bright light source, such as a flashlight, to shine a bright light through the egg and reveal the developing embryo.

Painted Turtles are cool! But did you know they can be super-cool? Although the staff at Huron Stewardship Council (HSC) will release the incubated Midland Painted Turtle eggs shortly after they hatch, in the wild these hatchlings can choose to stay in their nest over the winter and emerge in the spring! You might be wondering how they can handle the freezing cold temperatures during the winter. This is how Painted Turtles can be supercool, by supercooling their bodies! Supercooling is a biological process where the body fluids can drop below typical freezing temperatures by using natural antifreeze proteins. This can allow hatchling turtles to survive temperatures as low as -12° Celsius! If supercooling isn’t ‘cool’ enough for you, hatchling Painted Turtles will often freeze like ice in the nest! As supercooling requires very specific nest conditions, the hatchlings can freeze instead. This is done by allowing ice to form in the fluids around the cells within the body. Although the freezing is usually brief, it can persist for a week or more, but is only survivable to -4° C. Even though scientists still do not know everything about how these processes work, what we do know is that Painted turtle hatchlings are one of the best vertebrates at doing it!